Journeys Through Bookland Volume X Part 40

The _sonnet_ may be addressed to any person or thing and is the direct personal expression of the author's feeling. It is like the ode, and also partakes of the general nature of the elegy, but it differs from both in the rigidity of the rules of form that govern it. Sonnets originated in Italy, and the genuine Italian sonnet is very exacting in form. It must consist of exactly fourteen lines of iambic pentameter.

These lines are divided into two groups, one of which consists of eight lines or two _quatrains_, the whole known as the _octave_. The remaining six lines const.i.tute the _sestet_. The first and last line of each quatrain rhyme together, while the middle lines of each form the second rhyme. In the sestet usually the first line rhymes with the fourth, the second with the fifth and the third with the sixth. As a whole the sonnet contains one idea, which in the octave is general, in the sestet specific, for the sestet expresses the conclusion of the octave.

The difficulties of composition under such arbitrary limitations are evident, and it is not to be wondered at that even famous poets have utterly failed when they have essayed to write in this form. The sonnet has met with severest criticism, some writers failing to see any beauty in it. Coleridge says: "And when at last the poor thing is toiled and hammered into fit shape, it is in general racked and tortured prose rather than anything resembling poetry." Though Lord Byron wrote a few himself he defined the sonnet as "The most puling, petrifying, stupidly Platonic composition."

But this is hardly fair to the many exquisitely beautiful lyrics that in this form grace the English language. Those "little pictures painted well," those "monuments of a moment" are among our most graceful poems, and the reader who has not learned to delight in a beautiful sonnet has missed the most refined pleasure English literature has to give.

The following exquisite sonnet, _Victor and Vanquished_, by Longfellow, is formed on the Italian model:

As one who long hath fled with panting breath Before his foe, bleeding and near to fall, I turn and set my back against the wall, And look thee in the face, triumphant Death.

I call for aid, and no one answereth; I am alone with thee, who conquerest all; Yet me thy threatening form doth not appall, For thou art but a phantom and a wraith; Wounded and weak, sword broken at the hilt, With armor shattered, and without a s.h.i.+eld, I stand unmoved; do with me what thou wilt; I can resist no more, but will not yield.

This is no tournament where cowards tilt; The vanquished here is victor of the field.

How many verses in this sonnet? What is the meter? What is the rhyme scheme? Through how many lines is the rhyme scheme the same as that followed in the Italian sonnet?

Is there a unity of thought in this sonnet? Does the poet consistently allude to some one thing? Was Longfellow old or young when he wrote this? What does Longfellow represent himself to be? Why does he "set his back against the wall"? In these days of Mauser rifles would it do any good to set one's back against the wall for protection against an approaching enemy? Was it ever an advantage? Who is the foe that follows him? How can Death be "but a phantom and a wraith" and at the same time follow the poet triumphantly? What do his weapons and his armor indicate as to what he represents himself? What is the "broken sword"? Who fight in tournaments? What is there appropriate in the word "tilt"? How can the one who is vanquished be victor still? Is the figure of medieval knighthood well sustained?

The earliest European _dramas_ of which we have any record were the plays performed in ancient Greece five hundred years before Christ.

There were very few characters introduced, sometimes only one or two, and a chorus was the most important part of the representation. This chorus served to fill the gaps in the action, to state what had preceded and at times even to comment upon the actors, to exhort or to praise or condemn their behavior. The Greek dramatists carefully followed the so-called rule of _three unities_: unity of time, whereby the action must be compressed into one day; unity of place, by which only one place must be represented; and unity of action, whereby the movement of the piece must be continuous, all the incidents be connected so as to form one main line of thought. The rule of three unities was followed very closely by the French dramatists up to comparatively recent times; but in England, beginning with the Elizabethan era, no restraint was placed upon dramatic technique except unity of action, which still remains essential.

During the Middle Ages the drama was represented by _miracle_ and _mystery plays_ dealing with sacred history. They differed in subject only. The miracle plays represented the lives of saints and their miraculous deeds; the mysteries, the mysterious doctrines of Christianity and various biblical events. During an age when preaching was unusual, the clergy reached the souls of their people by means of these rude plays which were at first given in churches; but later, when the town guilds and trade organizations began to present them, the stage was a traveling cart, roughly fitted up with rude scenery. Still later, before theaters were built, the wandering players acted in inn yards or courtyards. Female parts were always taken by boys, and it was not until after Shakespeare's time that women appeared on the stage.

In the reign of Henry VI the mysteries were in part superseded by the _morality plays_, although the former did not wholly go out of style until the time of Elizabeth. The pa.s.sion play given every ten years at Oberammergau, Bavaria, is a survival of the old mystery play. The moralities personified the virtues and vices common to man, and attempted to teach moral lessons by allegorical representations. When popular interest in these dramas began to lag, current topics were introduced into the dialogue, and characters from real life appeared on the stage for the first time. Early in the sixteenth century John Heywood invented a farcical composition called _The Interlude_ to relieve the tiresome monotony of existing plays. But it was in 1540 that the first comedy appeared, and it is not too much to say that this play marks the beginning of modern English drama. Nicholas Udall, head master of Eton College, being accustomed to write Latin plays for his boys, concluded to try his hand at an English drama. The result was _Ralph Royster Doyster_, the first comedy. In 1562 Queen Elizabeth was entertained by the presentation of the first English tragedy, a play ent.i.tled _Gorboduc_, by Thomas Sackville.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries amateur dramatic productions called _masques_ were presented. Sometimes even n.o.bles and members of the royal family took part. These plays were accompanied by music, dancing, and spectacular effects. The literary character of the masque developed into the compositions of Ben Jonson, and culminated in Milton's _Comus_. During the reign of Elizabeth the productions of Kyd, Peele, Greene, Marlowe, and Beaumont and Fletcher raised the drama to such a lofty plane that only the genius of a Shakespeare could surmount it.

There are two distinct cla.s.ses of modern dramas--tragedies and comedies.

In the former, events crowd irresistibly on to some terrible conclusion, usually resulting in the death of the princ.i.p.al characters. An atmosphere of gloom surrounds it, and the flashes of light serve but to intensify the general darkness. Even when the soul of the reader recognizes the justice of the end it rebels against the horrors of the situation. The deeper and darker pa.s.sions predominate; love is swallowed up in hate and happiness drowned in grief. The comedy is in a lighter and happier vein; its situations may be trying but they end happily; the sun s.h.i.+nes and the air is clear; if storms appear they are the showers of a summer day, not awful tempests. The comedy descends through various forms to the travesty and farce whose purpose is solely to excite laughter by ludicrous scenes and absurd incidents. The melodrama abounds in thrilling situations and extravagant efforts to excite emotions, but its final outcome is a happy one, and the villain is punished and virtue is comfortably rewarded.

Dramas may be written in prose or in poetic form. The tendency is toward prose in comedy and poetry in tragedy, though in the same play both prose and poetry are sometimes used. The most common form for the poetic composition is the unrhymed iambic pentameter or blank verse (heroic measure). Rhymes are in use but usually their purpose is definite and specific and they may occur occasionally in plays which are otherwise in blank verse. Lyrics are often introduced, and in them both rhyme and meter are varied at the pleasure of the author.

_Journeys Through Bookland_ contains numerous ill.u.s.trations of the facts of this chapter and plentiful examples of every form of literature except the sonnet, of which a type has just been given. The outline which follows will summarize this chapter and show a few of the examples that may be formed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON PAUL DU CHAILLU RUDYARD KIPLING THOMAS HUGHES HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN JAKOB GRIMM WILHELM GRIMM]

LITERATURE

I. PROSE.

1. Forms of Prose Composition.

A. Narration.

_The Pine Tree s.h.i.+llings_: IV, 192.

_A Christmas Carol_: VI, 244.

B. Description.

_Brute Neighbors_: VII, 260.

_The Alhambra_: VIII, 153.

_Children's Books of the Past_: V, 101.

C. Exposition.

_Imitation of Christ_: VI, 134.

_The Cubes of Truth_: VII, 406.

_Reading History_: V, 394.

D. Argument.

_Poor Richard's Almanac_: VI, 407.

2. Kinds of Prose.

A. Fiction.

_Aladdin_: III, 288.

_Tom Brown at Rugby_: V, 469.

_The Adventure of the Windmills_: VII, 438.

B. Essays.

_Childhood_: VI, 124.

_Dream Children_: VIII, 335.

_The Vision of Mirza_: IX, 285.

C. Orations.

_The Gettysburg Address_: IX, 321.

_Abraham Lincoln_: IX, 324.

II. POETRY.

1. Structure of Poetry.

A. Rhyme.

_The Country Squire_: VI, 474.

_To My Infant Son_: VI, 478.

B. Meter.

_The Daffodils_: VII, 1.

_The Old Oaken Bucket_: VII, 11.

_Bannockburn_: VII, 15.

_Boat Song_: VII, 17.

2. Kinds of Poetry.

A. Epics.

a. Heroic Epics.

_Death of Hector_: IV, 364.

_Wooden Horse_: IV, 383.

b. Lesser Epics.

_Saint Nicholas_: II, 202.

_Pied Piper of Hamelin_: III, 384.

_Incident of the French Camp_: IV, 174.

_Sohrab and Rustum_: VI, 173.

B. Lyrics.

a. Songs.

(1) Sacred.

_Nearer Home_: IV, 126.